Hi all, I stripped my skimmer over the weekend to clean all the parts as a critter got stuck in and blocked one of the air inlet pipes on the venturi. When putting it back together I looked at the pump housing and came up with an idea to improve the water flow from the chamber where the impellor runs in to the outlet pipe. I don't know if this has been done before but here's what I did. I applied some silicone to the side side of the outlet / return spigot of the impellor casing which creates a 'scoop' to direct the water into the outlet. It works amazingly well as I have never seen the chamber so filled with bubbles before. The foam head in the tube below the collector cup is much larger than before which indicates to me that this realy works.

On the aqua bee pumps there is a little flapper valve in the outlet. The reason it is a flapper valve is the pump can turn in any direction. When the impeller turns in one direction the flapper changes to Chanel the water flow. If the impeller turns the other way the the flapper changes over.

Not sure if the motor you did the mod on will start in different directions. But if there is a lack in performance after a power out or switching the skimmer you know that it is most likely due to the pump turning the other way round. You will just need to switch it a few times to get it to turn the way it performs best.

When I considdered this mod, I started the pump a few times and every time it spun clockwise, so I did not considder that it was possible to spin both ways. After your comments I checked it again and it does spin both ways, but with this mod, it's clear which way it is spinning and if it does not foam you just switch it off and on again until it foams. When I clean it again I will increase the size and improve the shape of the scoop now that I know it works.

When I considdered this mod, I started the pump a few times and every time it spun clockwise, so I did not considder that it was possible to spin both ways. After your comments I checked it again and it does spin both ways, but with this mod, it's clear which way it is spinning and if it does not foam you just switch it off and on again until it foams. When I clean it again I will increase the size and improve the shape of the scoop now that I know it works.

good one man, There are a Ton of mods to do to the OTP pumps to get better performance from them, due to them being old the threads are not so common anylonger on reef central so i cant point u in that direction but the guys used to actually bore out the inlets and outlets to get more from them add mesh etc etc.

"Remember, it's a hobby and if it is not fun, or is a cause for worry, or if I can't afford it, it goes in the garbage. but one thing I will never lose any sleep over is a fish tank." Paul B

My overflow system is as follows. Two 50 mm dia outlets through the side of the DT. One goes directly to the skimmer via the standard 20mm inlet and the second overflow drops through a unit holding 4 filter socks. The skimmer never seemed to skim much as the filter socks clear out a lot of gunk. I have to replace the socks every 3 to 4 days. The filter sock container sprung a leak about 2 weeks back so that overflow I directed straight down to the DSB. Since then the skimmer is really working with more skimmate than I've ever seen.

My question is this. How do get both overflows to discharge into the skimmer? The volume of water through the 2 overflows (approx 4500 l per hour) is too much to get into the skimmer via a 20mm pipe.

Why don't you T them both into one outlet and then have that outlet T into the intake of your skimmer? That way whatever extra you have can get expelled into a single filter sock and your skimmer can take what it needs...

Only problem would be that you're really restricting the flow from your DT.